A preliminary investigation for "
violence by a person holding public authority
" was opened after the violent arrest in early October of an autistic man, the Paris prosecutor's office said Tuesday, January 4, confirming information from Liberation.
Read also “Autism strategy”: three years later, limited progress
This investigation was opened on November 18 and entrusted to the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN), said this source. According to the daily
Liberation
, the back and forth of a young man with autism, Eliott *, 29, in a private passage in eastern Paris, where his neighbors are used to meeting him, question a person present on site: Eliott bangs his head with his hands, seems to want to enter a building without having the code.
This witness called the police, without it being clear from
Liberation
whether she described him to the police as threatening or not. According to the daily, when the police arrived, they immobilized Eliott after using an electric pulse pistol (PIE), a defense bullet launcher (LBD) and a ventral tackle.
Several witnesses cited by
Liberation
say they have "
tried to intervene
" and "
reason with the police from the windows
", assuring that the use of force by the police was disproportionate on this person widely known as non-threatening.
The lawyer for Elliot's family, Me Cosima Ouhioun, confirmed the facts as presented by
Liberation
and told AFP that she wanted "
all the light to be shed on these facts
".
According to her, “
this case also raises the question of the training of police officers in the face of the handicaps of the people with whom they intervene.
"
* the first name has been changed